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Needmor Fund ● 2015 NCRP Impact Awardee for Small/Midsize Private Foundation
Acceptance Speech by Frank Sanchez, Executive Director
On Behalf of the Board, staff and family members of The
Needmor Fund, we want to first thank NCRP for the Impact
Award and appreciate the work you do to hold philanthropy
accountable to the principles of social justice and equity for
low-income communities.
The Needmor Fund was founded in 1956 by Duane and Virginia
Stranahan to facilitate the family’s charitable giving and to
teach their children and succeeding generations about giving
back to the community.
The work and funding of Needmor is driven by out mission, “to work with others
to bring about social justice,” and our core value is democracy.
Communities Creating Opportunity (CCO) is one of Needmor grantees that
reflects our mission and is a strong and effective community organization. It
organized and ran one of the largest C3 voter engagement programs in Missouri
and Kansas in 2014. The voter engagement program was all volunteer-led and
engaged over 22,000 low propensity voters and directly integrated 20,000
disenfranchised voters into the process due to restrictive photo ID laws.
The message of the voter engagement program was “Dignity Matters and Dignity
Votes!” The message of “dignity” focused on issues impacting local communities
such as health care access, payday loan reform, improving education, violence
prevention, and economic opportunity.
After the election, CCO has continued to organize on these issues. For CCO and
Needmor, democracy is not seasonal and does not take a day off. Organizing is a
continual process that engages leaders and communities on a daily basis.
The Needmor Fund is a small pebble that has been steadfast in its commitment to
social justice. Needmor has given much, but we have received much more in
return from the hundreds of organizations we have supported over the years that
organize on a daily basis for a health democracy and a more just and equal
society. Thank you NCRP.